


Don't Bother Knocking

by heathicorn



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-27 07:17:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/975997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heathicorn/pseuds/heathicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>based on a twitter conversation we had about what would happen if betsy and jeremy started dating in secret and the rest of the gang found out~</p>
<p>(loosely following plot developments of the s2 premiere)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Bother Knocking

"I don’t think we should tell anyone."

Jeremy stops kissing Betsy just long enough to give her a quizzical grin.

"About us—this, I mean." She gestures between them. They’re pressed closed together in the cramped supply closet just outside Jeremy’s office during their lunch break.

"Yes, I gathered that’s what you meant," he chuckles, adding, "It would be…unprofessional?"

Betsy nods. Even though she’s young and admittedly naive, in many ways she’s more mature than most of the doctor’s in their office. As thrilled as she is to talk about Mindy’s love life, it rarely involves another member of their staff, and thus can be compartmentalized—at least that’s what Betsy says when she’s gushing about Mindy’s dating adventures. Betsy would hate her professional commitment being scrutinized for whatever it is that’s going on between her and Dr. Reed. 

Even now, standing in this closet with Jeremy’s hands on her waist, Betsy’s not entirely sure what any of it means. The first time Jeremy kissed her, it was sloppy and rushed and felt like an accident. They didn’t talk about it, didn’t even look each other in the eye when they crossed paths at work the next day. Betsy convinced herself it was an accident, or she imagined it, until he pulled her aside after a meeting and kissed her slow, deliberate. When he pulled away, they laughed nervously and went back to their desks with perma-smiles for the rest of the day, but they still didn’t talk about it.

Betsy immediately read all of the practice’s literature on inter-office dating, and although there was nothing explicitly stating it wasn’t allowed, she figured it didn’t really matter. They hadn’t even been on a real date yet, so she couldn’t be sure if what they were doing would even constitute ‘dating’. It was more like tugging each other into any available unoccupied corner of the office and aggressively making out whenever they had a chance. Betsy remembers Mindy telling her about her intermittent hookups with him in the past, and she often wonders if that’s all this is? And what’s worse—what would Mindy think if she found out?

Without warning, the closet door swings open and they freeze. Danny’s standing there, eyes flitting between their hands and faces with a vague smile on his face.

"So, this is happening?" he says, nodding between them. Danny reaches for a box of gloves and doesn’t even bat an eye. "Just don’t do it in the closet—it’s full of sanitized supplies and we really can’t afford to buy replacements. For that matter, just don’t do it in the office, please. I spend more time here than in my own apartment."

He turns but pauses to add, “Oh yeah, meeting in 10, Reed.” And with that, he closes the door.

Betsy and Jeremy are left staring at the spot where Danny was standing a few seconds earlier, wondering if they just shared a fever dream because Danny was completely nonplussed by the realization that two of his coworkers were sneaking around right under his nose.

Betsy buries her face in her hand and groans. “We’re doomed, I’m going to get fired and thrown to the streets for being a secretarial harlot!”

"Harlot? For goodness—Betsy, it’s fine, really, it’s fine! Danny seemed very calm, honestly I think he’s still so shaken up by his would-be engagement that he’ll forget all about this."

“Do you really think so?”

“….no, but we’ll just have to wait and see.” Jeremy smiles and plants a kiss on the corner of her mouth and opens the closet door, motioning for her to exit in front of him.

—-

Three weeks pass and no one says anything, so Jeremy takes that as a sign that Danny has elected not to inform the office of his sort-of relationship with Betsy. But Betsy has been skittish and any time they’re together she’s always glancing over her shoulder, waiting for someone else to bust in and surprise them.

She knows it’s just a matter of time; subtlety has never been one of her strong suits and the office is notoriously small and poorly noise-proofed. One day they’re sitting in Dr. Reed’s office and the door swings open just as Jeremy’s leaning in to kiss her.

“Oh my GOD.” Morgan is gasping and pointing at them like he caught them having sex on Jeremy’s desk.

"Morgan! We talked about this! What did we discuss, about knocking?"

"I’m sorry, yes, ‘knock or you’ll get a shock’, Dr. Reed."

"Yes, and did you knock?"

"I told you to lock the door!" Betsy groans.

"What—what’s happening here? What am I looking at? Betsy, did he trick you into this with his Australian accent?"

"I’m English," Jeremy corrects, narrowing his eyes. "Australian, honestly?"

"Grapefruit? Grapefruit. Grapefruit, Betsy!" Morgan keeps changing the intonation of the word like it will convey a different meaning.

"What are you talking about? Grapefruit?" Betsy’s pushing Morgan away as he tries to tug at her wrist.

"It’s the safe-word, for if you’re being held against your will!" He whispers, arcing a brow and glancing at Jeremy.

"…we don’t have a safeword for that, Morgan."

"Oh, well in that case…" He turns his shoulder to Jeremy and lowers his voice, covering his mouth with his hand, "Pineapple?"

"Oh for crying out loud, no, I’m—we’re not—it’s not what it looks like!"

"Really? Cause what it looks like is your lipgloss all over Dr. Reed’s Australian face."

"English—dammit Morgan, we’ve been over this." Jeremy’s pulling up maps of the United Kingdom on his phone and trying to shove them in Morgan’s face.

"You can’t say anything to anyone about this!" Betsy grabs Morgan by the collar of his scrubs and stares at him with murderous intensity.

"Oh, see that might be a problem. I don’t believe in keeping secrets from friends, I believe it’s poisonous to the soul. Gets you all twisted up inside and effects your bowel movements, you know?"

"No," Jeremy pinches Morgan’s arm, "And even if it was, you’d better swallow that poison my friend. Swallow it and never say a word."

As if on cue, Mindy walks in and jerks a thumb over her shoulder, “Can you believe we finally got soap that doesn’t smell like an old person’s home? I’ve only been asking Danny to change it for like three years! You know, I knew I was getting through to him, he just—”

"BETSY AND DR. REED ARE AMOROUSLY ENGAGED!" Morgan practically shouts before clamping a hand over his mouth.

“WHAT?” Mindy glances at Betsy for verification.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry it slipped out. I told you I couldn’t do it! Blame it on my bowels.” Morgan shrugs apologetically.

"You are an embarrassment Morgan. How did you survive prison?”

"You’re ENGAGED?" Mindy’s eyes are wide and she’s waving an accusatory finger between them.

"NO, no, oh my god Dr. L, we are not engaged—that’s not what he means." Betsy’s waving dismissively at Morgan, trying to figure out how she’s supposed to explain their situation when she doesn’t even know what it is herself.

"Betsy and I are together," Jeremy says, matter-of-fact.

"We are?" She says, realizing it should sound like a statement instead of a question, but she’s honestly baffled.

"Oh my god, Betsy, how could you keep this from me? Is this because I ate half of your sandwich that you left in the fridge? I told you I didn’t know it was yours! And in my defense, I have told you that you really need to label your food. Everybody else does it."

The noise of their conversation must be traveling, because Danny pokes his head in to investigate, and seeing Mindy, nods to Betsy, “Oh! You told them?”

"I’m sorry, told them?” Mindy shouts, turning to punch Danny on the arm. “You knew? Dammit Danny! How could you not tell me! Is there no honest soul left in this office? I go to Haiti for a couple months and everything goes to hell!”

"I just assumed we all knew?"

"Oh? How would we all know Danny? Please, enlighten me.”

"Well he stares at her all the time. If a man stares at a woman for more than 5 seconds without blinking it means he wants to sleep with her?"

"What?" Jeremy and Betsy say in unison.

"But you stare at Dr. L all the time!" Morgan says with a laugh.

"Yeah, we’ve been making eye contact this whole time Danny—does that mean you want to sleep with me?"

"That’s not—it’s science, guys, okay? I read it on a blog."

"A blog, Danny? You read it on a blog? Who are you? I don’t even know you anymore!" Mindy reaches for his name tag as if to verify and Danny swats her hand away.

"No, Dr. L—it’s just, you were in Haiti and then you were sick and then you were getting married and then you weren’t getting married, and Dr. Castellano was dealing with his…internet addiction—"

Danny throws his hands in the air and groans. “I do not have an addiction! I did it the one time. The one time! I was watching it for medical purposes! It was purely informational, clinical—”

"Yeah, okay Michael Fassbender settle down," Mindy waves him off, rolling her eyes.

“It just sort of happened and we didn’t want to make a big deal out of it?” Betsy glances over to Jeremy and he manages a reassuring nod.

“Frankly, you all are very self-involved because we weren’t even very stealthy I mean really, you could have figured it out on your own—”

“Alright, let’s not go that far,” Betsy cuts Jeremy off and smiles. “I’m still your medical secretary, he’s still your partner, we’re still coworkers, everything is fine! Just please don’t make a big deal out of this?”

“Are you kidding me? All Mindy does is make a big deal out of things, good luck with that.” Danny says with a chuckle.

“You know what Castellano, I thought you’d be nicer now that I’m staying, because you so obviously missed me, but no.” She turns to Betsy and smiles, “Honestly, I’ve been there—” she points at Jeremy and beams “and even though he’s a bit showy, I’m very proud. I honestly didn’t know you had it in you.”

“So…it’s okay?” Betsy asks, glancing between Mindy and Danny.

“Hell yeah, do what you want. I don’t have a problem with dating coworkers as long as your work doesn’t suffer.”

“Wait, you don’t?” Danny raises a brow.

“It’s 2013, Danny. People can date whoever they want. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go check Danny’s work computer for inappropriate pornography.” Mindy gives them a thumbs up and a wink before pivoting to leave.

“God, Mindy, it was one time!” Danny groans and follows after her, shouting, “Behave yourselves!” over his shoulder.

Morgan mouths ‘I’m sorry’ and Jeremy points at the door, “Go. Out, now.”

With a low bow, Morgan backs out of Jeremy’s office and leaves the two of them alone.

They stand in silence for a long moment before Betsy breathes a heavy sigh of relief that descends into quiet laughter.

“Well, that went better than expected?” Jeremy says with a grin.

"Yeah, I guess it did."

"I’m sorry about all that though, I know it worries you." Jeremy gives her hand a squeeze.

“Did you mean what you said? About us—you know…” Betsy can hear him saying ‘together’ on an infinite loop in her head, but can only hope that she wasn’t imaging that he was serious when he said it.

“Betsy, since that was about as close to an official sanction as we’ll get, I think it’s time we come out of hiding and go on a real date, wouldn’t you agree?”

Without hesitation she leans in to kiss him, a smile breaking over her lips.

“About time.”


End file.
